


For you I’ll do anything

by cian1675



Category: Block B
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gang World, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Angst, Cussing, Gen, M/M, Violence, also pretty much everyone except kyung appears at some point but they only have a small part each, not a lot but it is a gang au after all, someone dies in the prologue but it's only mentioned and not described in detail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-29 08:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8481802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cian1675/pseuds/cian1675
Summary: Yukwon's the leader of a relatively powerful gang in the city. He has changed a lot since his days as an underling in Zico's gang and left a lot behind in order to make it this far, but a phone call from someone he hasn't seen for 18 years is all it takes to change everything he knows.





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_They were supposed to be tending to each other’s injuries. He had been dutifully checking Minhyuk’s bare upper body for any cuts that might get infected, rubbing ointment into the bruises that were sure to form tomorrow. Minhyuk had been doing the same, checking Yukwon for any signs of damage besides superficial wounds. All things considered, that they only have bruises, cuts and nothing worse to show for the beating they took is a good thing. Minhyuk gently drags a wet towel over Yukwon’s busted lip to get rid of the dried blood, and he sucks up the whimper that threatens to slip past his tongue. It stings. But then Minhyuk leans forward, pressing a gentle, almost barely there kiss to the other corner of his lips where it’s uninjured and Yukwon forgets about the pain for a little while. It doesn’t take long before their original task of tending to injuries is forgotten, although Yukwon can’t exactly say he minds._

_The bed is creaky when they both tumble onto it, and the springs in the old mattress dig into his back when he lies down. But Minhyuk is gentle, gentler than he usually is, and Yukwon forgets about everything but the feather-light touches he receives. When they’re both spent and exhausted, Yukwon pulls the thread-bare blanket to cover their bodies, resting his head against the pillow to watch Minhyuk sleep. He looks so peaceful, Yukwon thinks, and he wishes he could fall asleep as well, join Minhyuk in his peaceful rest, but his own mind is churning._

_Yukwon had honestly expected a much harsher punishment for both of them after they asked to leave the gang. But maybe the underlings doing the punishment felt bad and went easy on them. After all, it isn’t every day that your good friend who joined the gang with you dies in a local fight, and Yukwon supposes that most of them assumed that his reason for leaving the gang is the same as Minhyuk’s. Minhyuk wanted to leave after Jihoon died in the fight. Maybe he had thought about it before, but Yukwon knows the real trigger is Jihoon’s sudden and unexpected death. They’ve been friends with Jihoon since elementary school, the three of them an unbreakable trio. Jihoon’s death was a shock for both of them, but maybe more so for Minhyuk. He said it made him realize that what they’re doing, the kind of life they’re living, isn’t worth it. “What’s the point of being in a gang?” Minhyuk had asked. It was a rhetorical question. Shortly after he had gone to their leader and asked to leave. Yukwon had went with him and asked to leave as well. He didn’t tell Minhyuk why though. He lets Minhyuk assume, along with everyone else, that it’s because of Jihoon._

_Because it’s easier that way._

_It’s easier than telling Minhyuk that he’s been thinking of leaving their old gang for a while already. It’s easier than telling Minhyuk that he thinks their old gang is too small, their leader too unambitious for what he wants to do. It’s easier than telling Minhyuk that he wants to leave their old gang because he wants to join a new one, a bigger one. Yukwon doesn’t want tell Minhyuk any of this, not while Minhyuk’s peacefully sleeping, nor later when he wakes up. He doesn’t think Minhyuk would want to know._

_That night, he leaves Minhyuk’s tiny one-room apartment on the guise of going out to buy more bandages, but Yukwon doesn’t return. It’s cowardly, but it’s easy._

_It’s the last time he sees Minhyuk._


	2. The past never truly gets left behind

**Chapter 1: The past never truly gets left behind**

It starts with a phone call from an unknown number. Yukwon had told his men to not answer calls from unknown numbers, but when the same phone number flashes up on the phone screen for the fifth time in an hour, Yukwon gives up and lets Taeil, his right hand man, pick it up. He’s not sure how anyone got the number for his private line, but Yukwon trusts Taeil to take care of whatever happens, so he isn’t paying attention when Taeil talks on the phone. It’s only when Taeil calls his name repeatedly does Yukwon look up, annoyed.

“What?”

Taeil gives him a bored look, as if Yukwon isn’t his boss or someone capable of killing him at the snap of his finger if he wants to, and just says, “It’s from someone called Minhyuk. He says you’ll take this call once I tell you his name.”

It takes a while for what Taeil says to stick in his mind. _Minhyuk._ It’s been so long. He narrows his eyes at Taeil but puts a hand out for the phone. Taeil simply places it on his palm, and Yukwon brings the phone to his ear, hesitant to answer the call but not willing to show it in front of Taeil. He can never be too careful after all, even if he thinks Taeil is as trustworthy as gang members can get.

“Hello?” Yukwon says. He prepares himself for the reply, but he still gets surprised by the voice on the other end of the line.

“Yukwon? It’s Minhyuk. I need your help.”

 

 

Yukwon’s sitting at a table in a private room of a pub, waiting. He’s supposed to meet Minhyuk although it’s still another ten minutes to their agreed time. Whatever he needs help for, Minhyuk hadn’t been willing to divulge over the phone, and Yukwon understands the cautiousness. So he had given Minhyuk the address for one of his lesser known pubs, where he knows they will have privacy. He’s running a hand through his slicked back hair, adjusting the heavy leather jacket on his shoulders when the door opens.

“He says he’s Minhyuk,” Taeil says, stepping back slightly to let whoever is behind him appear in the doorway, and Yukwon moves his hand to cradle the cold metal of his gun holstered in the small of his back. From his spot in the room, he has a clear shot of the door, and in case the guy isn’t actually Minhyuk, Yukwon would be able to defend himself at a moment’s notice. It turns out to actually be Minhyuk though, and Yukwon isn’t sure if the little exhale he makes is from not having to shoot anyone today, or from seeing Minhyuk again, after so long.

Minhyuk’s wearing a simple coat over a pressed shirt and slacks, almost the picture of a working man, but his gaze on Yukwon’s hand behind his back is indication enough that this here is the same guy who used to be in a gang with him. Minhyuk doesn’t say anything about Yukwon almost drawing a gun on him, just makes his way to the seat across Yukwon and takes off his coat. _No weapons on me_ , the gesture seems to say, but Yukwon isn’t entirely sure if Minhyuk still remembers all this, or if he’s just removing the coat because it’s hot in the room.

While he’s folding his coat, Yukwon takes the time to observe him. Minhyuk’s older now, face a little more mature, squarer, his hair a little longer, no longer shaved on the sides although the overall look is similar to the short cut he used to have. He still looks like the boy he had been when Yukwon left him, just older, and not in a bad way. He looks well-fed too, like whatever corporate life he might have chosen after he left the gang working out well for him, but there are also little smudges under his eyes like he hasn’t been sleeping well. He wonders if Minhyuk has been living a good life after he got out of the gang. He hopes so. But then again, if he is, why would he be asking for help? Yukwon’s about to ask, but Minhyuk beats him to it.

“I won’t be finding you if I have any other choice,” Minhyuk says slowly, without any preamble. Yukwon raises an eyebrow, and Minhyuk returns his look with a determined one of his own, although there’s a trace of something else behind it.

“It’s… my daughter. She has been kidnapped.”

It takes Yukwon a while to digest the fact that Minhyuk has a _daughter_ , let alone that she has been kidnapped. When he recovers his senses, the first thing he says is, “Shouldn’t you be calling the police instead of telling me this?”

Although Yukwon himself runs afoul of the police, he’s not so abhorrent of the law to think that approaching a gang leader like himself for a problem like Minhyuk’s is the best solution. Surely, for a now-upright citizen like Minhyuk, it’ll be better to call the police instead? He tells Minhyuk as much, but all it does is make Minhyuk shake his head.

“I can’t. I can’t go to the police.”

Yukwon’s about to ask why, when Minhyuk sighs, burying his face against his palms. His voice is shaky when he says the next sentence.

“It’s _them_ who took her.”

It doesn’t take much to guess who _they_ are, and all Yukwon can think of is, _well,_ _shit_.

 

 

They used to be in a gang together when they were younger, Minhyuk and him. It’s not the same one that Yukwon’s the leader of now; just some small local gang ran by some guy called Zico. They had managed to leave the gang after getting beaten up, although he supposed they weren’t beaten up too badly, as far as gang protocols go. Zico’s still running the same gang, but Yukwon has since joined and worked his way up a bigger regional gang, and he always assumed that that was that. It’s rare for gang members to be allowed to leave a gang without too much fuss, but Yukwon had assumed that the beating was the end of it, since he hadn’t gotten any other trouble over the years. Apparently he’s wrong. Maybe _he_ had been immune to more trouble because he’s part of a larger, more powerful gang, but Minhyuk hadn’t had the same privilege, and Yukwon’s learning just how much of a grudge Zico still has.

“Fuck, it’s been what? 18 years? Zico’s still bothering you?”

Minhyuk blinks rapidly, then replies, “I won’t mind if it’s just me –" and _that_ makes Yukwon wonder if he’s gotten beaten up more times in between – “but I think he’s been getting his underlings to befriend my daughter and… Well, all I know is that she was supposed to just be going to a friend’s party but it’s been 2 days now and I’ve not heard from her. I don’t even have any proof that it’s his doing, but I … I just have a _feeling_.”

If it was anyone else saying this, Yukwon would probably laugh in their face and ask Taeil to show them the way out. But because it’s _Minhyuk_ , Yukwon nods along when he explains that he can’t exactly go to the police, because he might be endangering his daughter – his sixteen year old daughter who’s old enough to not listen to her father when he tells her to stay away from strange men, but too young to be able to protect herself. Even if Minhyuk does report her as missing, and let the cops try to find her, they won’t be able to do their jobs well without knowing what Minhyuk knows about Zico having a grudge against him.

Yukwon listens to all of this, politely nodding like he’s only mildly interested when what he’s really doing is noting Minhyuk’s distress under his carefully assembled façade of calm posture and business-like voice. He can only imagine how Minhyuk must feel right now, thinking about all the terrible things that could happen to a young girl like his daughter. Still, he can’t let it show. After all, he’s not the same Yukwon he used to be, no longer just the teenage boy who joined a gang with Minhyuk and Jihoon because he thought it’ll be fun ( _oh, how silly he had been_ _then_ ).

Instead, he’s now the leader of the regional gang (or “mob boss” as Taeil sometimes call him even though he’s far from being that powerful) and he has responsibilities, expectations and protocols to fulfill. He can’t let any of that slip, even if he’s in front of only Minhyuk. He can’t. He’s worked too long and hard to do that. So Yukwon sits unmoving, listening to Minhyuk like he doesn’t care, even though everything in his body tells him otherwise. Minhyuk, on his part, doesn’t comment on it, just explains what he needs to about his situation and why he needs Yukwon’s help. He doesn’t beg or grovel, even though he’s clearly anxious about his daughter, and that eats at Yukwon more than he wants to admit or show.

He’s not weak by any means, having worked his way up the gang and done all the criminal tasks, small and big, to fight for his current position, but Yukwon finds himself weakening in front of Minhyuk. He’s the one with power here, power that he had made with his own two hands, but somehow this man in front of him has the ability to reduce him to shambles. When Minhyuk’s done explaining everything, Yukwon takes a long breath just to halt his words so he won’t seem like he’s too eager.

He’s already decided to help Minhyuk find her halfway through his explanations anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this AU because I couldn't take how much Yukwon looked like a mob boss in [this performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCbr6ty7d6A) of Make it Rain but looked like some fresh new gang underling who doesn't know better in [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HRRIuBPL7U) (all links go to videos on youtube). And of course Minhyuk looks good af as well so this happened. Sorry about Jihoon being killed in the prologue but he's not unimportant, let's just say.
> 
> Also, I've written most of the story, I just need to edit, so I'll be posting this maybe every week. Or if I get more comments or people excited to read I might post faster? We'll see how it goes lol. Let me know what you think so far!


	3. Her

**Chapter 2: Her**

Yukwon personally drives Minhyuk back after the meeting. He could just have Taeil send Minhyuk home if he wanted to be sure that Minhyuk gets home safely, but Yukwon finds himself asking for his car keys from Taeil, and he settles into the driver’s seat of his car for the first time in a while. The drive back is silent, Minhyuk sitting in shotgun but facing the windows most of the ride. Yukwon doesn’t hold it against him. He supposes the other is just sick with worried about his daughter, and although he understands, he’s not sure what to say, so he keeps his mouth shut the whole way.

He’s turning into the carpark when Minhyuk says, “If you want to, you can come up. I should probably pass you some photos of her anyway. And whatever else you might need to search for her.”

It’s such a logical thought that Yukwon’s not sure why he hadn’t thought of it first, but he’s glad because it gives him a reason for personally driving Minhyuk back and for going up to his place, so he goes along with it. When he’s at the door of Minhyuk’s apartment, Minhyuk finds a spare pair of indoor slippers for him, and he takes the silent invitation to enter the house.

Yukwon’s casually looking around the house, sizable but relatively empty like it’s not fully lived in, when he hears himself ask, “Since when did you have a daughter?” The question had slipped out now that he’s in Minhyuk’s house and he’s not constantly reminded of his responsibilities, but it’s really a question that has been on his mind since Minhyuk had told him he has a daughter. He has to pretend like it doesn’t hurt a little to even be asking Minhyuk the question, but Yukwon quickly pushes the feeling away, knowing that he probably did more shit (fucked more people) during their time apart than Minhyuk. He shouldn’t be one to judge. They each have their own life, and Yukwon was the one who walked away after all, all those years ago.

Pausing in his search of photos of his daughter, Minhyuk looks up. The pain in his eyes at the mention of her is obvious. It makes Yukwon almost regret asking. But then Minhyuk blinks and the pain is hidden away, and he answers, “I got married. After we left the gang. And well, you know, as with married couples, a child tends to happen.”

The tone and phrasing is detached, as if Minhyuk doesn’t want to mention his daughter too much, which Yukwon can kind of understand. It’s a coping mechanism, and those he knows well. He nods, then asks, “How’s your wife?” He hasn’t seen any traces of her in the house so far, and thought maybe they might be separated or Minhyuk might have been a single parent. But Minhyuk had just said he’s married, so he’s wondering. Minhyuk's face goes blank at the question, or maybe it’s sadness crossing his face, before he answers simply, “She’s dead.”

Oh. Of all the possible answers, he hadn’t expected _that_. It makes Yukwon feel sorry, sorry for asking, sorry about all of this mess, sorry that he had been the one to drag Minhyuk into Zico’s gang all those years ago and how Minhyuk’s still dealing with the consequences of that unplanned teenage move. So he decides to stick to asking about information that will help him find Minhyuk’s daughter. Things like, how tall is she, where had she been going before he lost contact with her and factual stuff like that. Yukwon sticks to doing what he can do to help Minhyuk for now, because if he doesn’t, he’ll think about how he hadn’t been able to help him at all in all the years in between (and how all of it is his fault).

 

 

He has a few of his men – as many as he can spare without raising suspicion – working on finding Minhyuk’s daughter, but they don’t find anything after a full day. That in itself tells him that Minhyuk’s suspicion that it is Zico’s doing is probably right, and _that_ worries him. He’s not sure if he should tell Minhyuk about it, if any of this is useful information at all, but Yukwon decides that maybe knowing would be better than not knowing at all. That’s how he ends up at Minhyuk’s apartment in the evening, knocking on his door.

“Did you…?” Minhyuk asks too anxiously the moment he opens the door and sees Yukwon standing outside, but Yukwon shakes his head a little. He ignores how Minhyuk slumps in response, moving to walk past Minhyuk into the house without invitation.

“I’m sorry,” Yukwon says later when Minhyuk hands him a glass of water at the kitchen counter. “I have people working on it, but so far they haven’t been able to find anything. It’s quite likely that Zico’s behind this, and that’s why we can’t even find anything about her. We’re still looking though.” He wants to add a “don’t worry” but he doesn’t think it’s in his right to, so Yukwon just takes a sip of the water. Minhyuk sighs, but he doesn’t seem entirely surprised by the information, just resigned, and Yukwon finds himself automatically reaching over to pat his back soothingly.

“It’s not your fault,” Minhyuk mumbles after a while, and Yukwon wants to laugh, because he should be the one saying it; should be the one comforting Minhyuk, but he’s the one getting comforted instead. He stops patting Minhyuk, running a hand through his own hair absently instead.

“Shouldn’t I be the one telling you that?”

Minhyuk sits up to look at him, eyes turning sad but the corner of his lips turning up. “I guess. But does it matter?”

“…Probably not,” Yukwon hears himself say in the end. In front of him, Minhyuk looks so vulnerable with that sad smile still on his face. So vulnerable in a way he was never before, not because Minhyuk’s weak now or because Minhyuk’s older now, but because Minhyuk has something precious now, something which he can lose easily but is still trying so hard to protect. Yukwon tries not to think about the fact that all it means is that Minhyuk didn’t used to have something _that_ precious; that _he_ had never been that precious to Minhyuk.

Instead, he drains the water from the glass, setting it on the table, ready to leave. He has delivered the news to Minhyuk already, and he has no other business here. Yukwon’s grabbing his jacket, ready to go, when Minhyuk says, “You know, you look different today.”

Yukwon looks down at what he’s wearing, a simple white long sleeved shirt and blue jeans, and raises an eyebrow.

“You looked like a mob boss the other day, with the white tiger print shirt and leather jacket,” Minhyuk explains, walking up to him and straightening his neckline. It’s an old top, loose with wash, exposing his collarbones and too much skin. Yukwon notices Minhyuk’s eyes linger around his neckline before he looks into Yukwon’s eyes and continues in a low voice, “Today you look more like the Yukwon I knew.” A pause. “The kid I knew back then.”

Yukwon doesn’t have time to wonder why Minhyuk sounds a little sad towards the end, before he finds their lips crashing into each other. He’s not even sure who moved first, him or Minhyuk, but he vaguely registers Minhyuk’s hand tugging at his hair, and his hands find their way under Minhyuk’s soft t-shirt, seeking the hot flush of skin on skin. The feeling of Minhyuk against him, his lips nudging, nibbling at his, is so familiar that he doesn’t immediately notice when Minhyuk freezes. It’s only when Minhyuk stops kissing, turning his face away does Yukwon look up.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Minhyuk says by way of explanation, and Yukwon has to blink to clear his mind. He vaguely notices Minhyuk pulling his hand away from where it had been resting on his back, and _then_ he remembers that he had still been wearing his holster.

_The kid I knew back then._

Maybe the gun is just another thing to remind them that they’re no longer the same people they had been all those years ago. Yukwon looks at Minhyuk, the other pointedly looking away now, holding his arms close like he shouldn’t be touching Yukwon, _hadn’t_ been touching him earlier. There’s nothing he can do to change anything, so Yukwon just puts on a blank expression, pretends that nothing’s wrong and straightens his clothes before he leaves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter titles have hints of what's coming later, and there's something in this chapter that may seem unimportant right now but will be quite important later. Being cryptic but ahh, I feel like pointing it out haha. Next chapter will be the "end" but there's an epilogue afterwards. Hope you've enjoyed reading so far :)


	4. End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up: Violence (fight and injuries) ahead.

**Chapter 3: End**

After a few days, they finally have a lead. Or rather, Zico probably grew sick of Yukwon’s men poking their noses into his territory and the casualties they’re leaving, offering to meet with them instead – just a “little talk” with Yukwon and Minhyuk in exchange for returning Minhyuk’s daughter.

It sounds fishy as fuck.

Which it probably is. But Yukwon doesn’t have much choice, and this seems to be the best option he has. So he calls Minhyuk to tell him that – knowing better than to visit him in person this time – and prepares for the meeting with Zico. He takes all the precautions he can, having his men scout out the location they will be meeting at beforehand, checking for places to station his backup around the area in case Zico doesn’t keep his word, and ensuring he has at least three escape routes memorized like the back of his hand for when things go south. He takes all the precautions he can, planning for all the possibilities he can think of, because Yukwon got so far not just by being fast on his feet, but by being smart as well. He only hopes it’s enough to get Minhyuk’s daughter back with as little casualties as possible.

On the day they’re supposed to meet Zico, Yukwon waits for Minhyuk outside his apartment block so he can drive them both there. He could just have Minhyuk make his way there himself, but Yukwon figured it’ll be safer if he brings Minhyuk there. It’ll reduce the number of things that can go wrong along the way if he has Minhyuk with him the whole time, and he can put his mind to worrying about other things that may go wrong instead. Minhyuk doesn’t mention anything about what happened the last time Yukwon was at his place, and Yukwon doesn’t bring it up either. In fact, he doesn’t say anything besides telling Minhyuk his plans for later, all the contingencies he has planned for, and what Minhyuk should do in each of the case. Minhyuk just nods, and only replies to say, “I don’t think I can run as fast as you need me to if _that_ happens”, which Yukwon notes in his mind. He mentally cancels the option of having Minhyuk run out of the warehouse with his daughter while he and his backup try to stop Zico and his men. (It had been a risky and not very practical plan to begin with, but Yukwon didn’t want to rule out any chance of contingency escape, no matter how small.)

They arrive at the warehouse Zico had asked to meet at right on time, and Yukwon lets Zico’s men guide him to where he’s supposed to park. It’s a long walk to the entrance of the warehouse, but Yukwon has already figured that Zico would take that much precaution at least. He’s not surprised either when the burly men escorting him and Minhyuk to the entrance pat them down at the door. What he is surprised at, though, is that Minhyuk has a small knife on him, which Zico’s men finds strapped to his ankle.

“Doesn’t hurt to try,” Minhyuk answers to Yukwon’s unvoiced question, eyes determined but slightly resigned now that his weapon had been found.

Yukwon nods briefly, because he understands. They both knew that they would be searched for weapons before they were allowed to meet Zico, but it never hurts to try and hide more weapons on their bodies in hopes of one, just one at least, making it past the check. Unfortunately, Yukwon’s last hope, the small blade in the sole of his shoe, gets found as well, and he has to school his face into a neutral expression even as he’s frustrated inside. It’s been so long since he met with another gang without Taeil and his trustworthy men beside him, and it makes Yukwon feel weak and uncertain. But then he remembers that he’s not here as leader, but for Minhyuk and his daughter. He can do this. Hasn’t he done this before when he was an underling?

_It’ll be okay. Everything will turn out okay._

Yukwon straightens his back as he follows the men into the main area of the warehouse, up the steel stairs leading to the mezzanine overseeing the endless rows of crates stacked on the ground floor. He doesn’t want to know what’s inside, but Yukwon can probably guess, especially if Zico hadn’t changed too much in the years since he’s been in his gang. Minhyuk lags behind him by a step, but no one says anything, not Zico’s men from the front, and definitely not Yukwon. After a while, he reaches the mezzanine platform.

The first thing he notices is that there’s no girl on the platform, which means Minhyuk’s daughter isn’t in sight. He hadn’t really been expecting that she would be (Zico’s lame, but not stupid), but he _might_ have been secretly hoping so (it’ll definitely have made his life a little easier). The second is that Zico’s seated at a corner, smiling, but there’s no one else beside him. No guards, no other underlings. That should have been enough to raise an alarm, but Yukwon’s lulled into safety by the fact that all his adversaries are in front of him and in plain sight: Zico and his three men who had escorted them from the car to the mezzanine. He forgets that someone’s still behind him.

When the pain comes, it’s too sudden, and Yukwon’s more shocked than hurt by the fact that he has a knife in his back. There’s a wetness seeping into his shirt, into the waistband of his jeans, and his legs suddenly buckle. It isn’t a fatal wound; he’s experienced worse, but Yukwon can’t wrap his mind around the fact that there’s only one person who could have stabbed him.

_Minhyuk._

He wonders if Minhyuk was put up to it, threatened by Zico with his daughter as hostage. _That_ he can understand. Holding in the pain, Yukwon twists his neck, trying to catch Minhyuk’s eyes but instead of the conflicted emotions he expects to see, he finds a bland, dead look on the face he thought he had been so familiar with.

“Why?”

The question is scarcely out of his mouth before he feels a different pain, blunt and strong in his left shoulder, and Yukwon doesn’t need to see the blood dripping in a steady flow from his wound or the ringing in his ears to know that someone – probably Zico – had fired a shot at him. He had been distracted by Minhyuk stabbing him that he forgot about the other dangers in the room, and that had been dumb. So, so dumb. But he doesn’t have time to dwell on it, doesn’t have time to question. Yukwon grits his teeth, pushing against the ground to stand up so he can fight, but it’s a miscalculated move, because before he even gets to Zico, his burly underlings have Yukwon pinned down. He struggles, pushing his weight to throw them off as best as he can, but he’s injured and they’re heavier, and after a while he feels his wounds bleed faster from the movement so he stops.

Fuck.

There’s a slap on his face, and Yukwon blinks his eyes open to see Zico squatting next to him, a little too close, probably because he thinks he’s safe with Yukwon still pinned down. Yukwon doesn’t give him the satisfaction though. He lunges forward and tries to bite Zico’s too prominent nose, but the guy moves back in time, and all Yukwon’s teeth snags at is air.

“Feisty, aren’t you?” Zico laughs, too brightly for someone whose nose had been _this close_ to getting bitten off. Yukwon can only glare. He tries to count how long it has been since he came in. Three, maybe four minutes. His men were given instructions to come in at the tenth minute if Yukwon doesn’t give them instructions not to, and it seems like that might be his best chance. He wonders if he can stall for time before someone tries to put another bullet in him.

“Where’s she?” Yukwon settles for asking, because he doesn’t know where to start. (He doesn’t want to think about Minhyuk, standing a little to the side, still holding a small blade stained with blood.)

“Oh, how _hilarious_ ,” Zico grins, looking at Minhyuk. Yukwon doesn’t follow, keeping his gaze on Zico instead, firmly ignoring Minhyuk because he’s not sure he wants to see his expression. When no one else says anything, Zico sighs, and continues, “You guys are no fun. And also, _you_ are kind of slow, for someone who’s a gang leader.”

Yukwon wants to snap, but he holds his tongue. Zico doesn’t fall for the bait though. In the end he has to ask why before he gets a reply.

“Oh you mean you haven’t figured it out?” Zico laughs. It was starting to annoy him, the constant barks of forced, hypocritical laughter.

“Figured _what_ out?” Yukwon all but spits at him. Five minutes now. Just another four minutes to go.

“Figured out that she’s not in danger to begin with. Pfft.”

Yukwon has to pause at that. _What._ “What are you talking about? Didn’t you threaten Minhyuk with his daughter as hostage?”

Zico leans in again, but more cautiously this time, out of Yukwon’s reach, and says slowly, “Is that why you think Minhyuk stabbed you? Because I forced him to?”

Yukwon doesn’t get to answer, because Zico’s laughing too loudly, and adding, “This is hilarious. Really is. You believe him so much, that you can’t come to the logical conclusion with all the facts in front of you.”

 _All the facts…?_ Yukwon’s starting to feel a little faint now, but he still has three minutes more to last. He forces his eyes to stay open.

“He stabbed you because he wanted to. I’m not the only one with a grudge for you, Kim Yukwon.”

“…why?” he hears himself asks but Yukwon thinks it gets drowned by other sounds. He can’t really focus now, his mind drifting off, but he thinks he hears someone say _we need to go, now, before Yukwon’s men come_ , and he knows that voice.

It’s Minhyuk. Minhyuk whom he had shared all his contingency plans with. Minhyuk who would of course remember that Yukwon’s waiting for his backup to come in. Minhyuk who had, for some reason, had a grudge against him, and betrayed him.

It’s the last thing he thinks about before he blacks out.

 

 

Yukwon wakes up to a room that’s too bright and smells like chemicals. He doesn’t have to open his eyes to know he’s in a hospital, but opening his eyes let him check that it’s _his_ private one he’s in. Taeil’s standing by the door, but notices when he stirs.

“I’ll call the doctor,” he says, and takes out his phone. Yukwon barely nods before his eyelids close again.

 

 

When the doctor comes, Yukwon sighs, because it’s Jaehyo. Jaehyo nags at him for getting shot at and stabbed at, going on and on about how it had been a pain to sew up the wounds, and how much trouble it was to get bags of blood for the amount he lost, and how he could have almost lost the use of his arm if not for being generally lucky. Yukwon scoffs. He wants to tell Jaehyo he’s anything but lucky, but the doctor stares at him, and he shuts up.

He owes the other that much, at least, for always patching him up in his private clinic when he doesn’t have to. Jaehyo’s mostly a law abiding citizen, but he had the misfortune to know Yukwon in middle school and high school, and after the first time Yukwon found him when he was injured badly enough he couldn’t handle it with a first-aid kit, Jaehyo has been the go-to doctor for Yukwon whenever he couldn’t head to a regular hospital. He can’t exactly get treated for a gunshot wound without getting the police involved, and in his line of work, that’s always a no-no. While Jaehyo can technically just refuse to treat Yukwon, he doesn’t ever do that for some reason. Maybe it’s because he really believes in saving people, even though it’s clear that he thinks Yukwon is a dumbass who probably needs more saving from himself than anyone else.

Anyway, Yukwon lets Jaehyo nag at him, because it’s familiar. After Jaehyo leaves, he lets Taeil report to him about what happened at the warehouse, how no one but him was there when they rushed in at the tenth minute, even though he had already guessed as much. These are the things within his realm of accounted possibilities, things he’s familiar with. Yukwon doesn’t let himself think about the fact that the reason he’s lying in the hospital bed right now is because he hadn’t managed to account for everything. He doesn’t think about it, because he doesn’t want to think about _him_.

 

 

In the end, he doesn’t even have to try very hard not to think about Minhyuk, because Yukwon finds out that he’s disappeared. Zico and his gang are still around, but no one tells him anything, and Yukwon can’t exactly spend all his manpower on something that’s only important to him, so he stops sending his men to question Zico’s underlings for information. He stops trying to find him, but it doesn’t mean he completely stops thinking about Minhyuk.

He tries though. He tries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone see that coming? ._.
> 
> If some things still don't make sense, the epilogue should clear things up. Like I said in the last chapter, the chapter titles are hints, and also something important was revealed in the last chapter which might have seemed insignificant. I'll love to hear what you think about the twist in the story, and any speculations you guys might have (or you can wait for the epilogue lol). Thanks for reading!


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The sun is too bright but Yukwon thinks it suits the day. It’ll be better than having a gloomy sky when he visits Jihoon’s grave. After all, even if Jihoon’s gone, he had been a bright person when he was around, and the weather reminds Yukwon of Jihoon, of his days as an underling in Zico’s gang. He has to pause before the thought drifts too far, before it drifts to _someone else_.

(It already did, but he can pretend.)

He’s getting better at not thinking about _him_ , Yukwon lies to himself, counting the steps up the hill to Jihoon’s grave with Taeil following behind. He doesn’t go anywhere without at least Taeil around nowadays. Call him paranoid, but Yukwon thinks it’s safer. Also, Jaehyo nags less when he does turn up at his clinic, so that’s always a bonus. The bouquet of flowers in his arms make a rustling noise when he shifts it to his other hand as he walks down the row, trying to find Jihoon’s grave. He almost misses it, and when he does find it, Yukwon has to do a double-take because he thinks it’s a mistake: there’re already flowers on the tombstone.

No one else but him visits Jihoon’s grave, no one but…

The thought’s not even complete before Yukwon finds himself picking up the bouquet already on the tombstone, searching for a note, a card, anything. His own bouquet drops by his feet in the meantime, but he manages to find a small note tightly tucked into the ribbon of the bouquet he found.

Yukwon pulls out the note, unfolding it with trembling hands. He’s not sure what he expects to find. Or maybe he knows what he expects to find, but he isn’t sure if he’s prepared.

_Yukwon,_

_I’m sorry. I could explain everything but I’m not sure if you want to know. I know it doesn’t excuse what I did, but I still feel like you deserve some sort of explanation. You can burn this without reading if you don’t want to know._

_The first thing I want to say is that my daughter is safe, has always been, and she’s studying overseas with no knowledge of anything that has happened. I was the one who worked with Zico, and she was never part of this. Please don’t find her if you want to look for revenge. Find me. Or Zico. Whoever you want to, as long as it’s not her._

_The second thing I wanted to say is something I probably should have told you when you asked me about my wife. She’s dead. I didn’t lie about that. But I also didn’t tell you that the reason why she’s gone is because she got caught in a bad time and place when your gang was having a fight with another gang, and she was one of the causalities. I thought you knew, and I blamed you. For the longest time I blamed you, because I thought you probably kept tabs on me even after you left, the same way I did. That’s how I knew you became the leader of the regional gang. Anyway, I assumed that you kept tabs on me, and would therefore know about my wife and kept tabs on her as well. That’s why I thought you knew about her death, but had asked me when we met to be polite. I didn’t know that you really didn’t know. But that day at the warehouse, when I realized you had no clue what Zico was saying, that’s when I realized that you really had no idea that she was unintentionally harmed by your gang activities._

_Her death was a huge loss to me, and I wasn’t quite the same after it. Ironically, it’s Zico who found me and got me back on my feet. He offered to pay for my daughter’s education in that period when I was down, in return for a favour, and I agreed. I didn’t expect the favour to be related to you, but it’s not hard to guess why he has a grudge against you. He probably hadn’t expected you to get into a larger gang than he has nor to become leader of that gang. To be fair, I went into the deal willingly, thinking that you had harmed my wife. That’s something I’m sorry for, but I don’t suppose apologizing would ever make up for it. Anyway, there you have it. My reasons._

There’s nothing more, no sign off either, and Yukwon flips the paper over a few more times to check to be sure. He feels like Minhyuk would have written more, but maybe he’s just hoping for something else. Maybe he’s hoping for Minhyuk to give him a reason to hate him. It’ll be much easier than the growing feeling of regret inside him at realizing what he had indirectly done to Minhyuk’s wife. It’s not his fault, Yukwon knows, but it’s not Minhyuk’s fault either. He wants to sit down but Yukwon doesn’t want to alarm Taeil; doesn’t want the other man walking up close to him to realize that Yukwon’s not composed. So he remains standing, blinking away the wetness in his eyes as he clenches the paper in his fist. It doesn’t ease the pain in his chest, but it doesn’t make it worse, so Yukwon remains in this position until he finally calms down.

When he looks up again, dragging the back of his hand across his eyes to make sure it’s dry, Yukwon wonders if this is a regret he’ll bring to his grave. The regret of hurting Minhyuk, in spite of everything Minhyuk’s done. Maybe they’ve both done wrong to each other. Doesn’t matter. He still regrets what he had done. Yukwon closes his eyes, allowing a brief moment to wonder if things might have been differently if he hadn’t joined another gang; if he hadn’t left Minhyuk that night after they got out of Zico’s gang.

In the end he opens his eyes, chasing those thoughts away. There’s no point entertaining what-ifs.

 

 

The sun is still bright when Yukwon leaves, but it no longer reminds him of Jihoon. He doesn’t want to think about anything related to that time of his life but he supposes he can’t exactly escape from the shadows when the sun is high in the sky like that. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow, wasn’t there some saying like that? Yukwon wonders if he has always been in the shadows.

Who was his sun?

(Surely Minhyuk’s sun is his daughter.)

Who is his sun now?

(Maybe he doesn’t have any.)

As Yukwon raises a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun, he remembers the Greek story about Icarus. Maybe his downfall was from trying to fly too close to his sun. The thought gets a bark of laughter from inside his throat, startling Taeil, but Yukwon doesn’t stop. Can’t stop. He doubles over in his laughter, but the sounds that escape his throat are harsh, dry and further from laughter than anything can be. When he finally composes himself, Taeil walks up to him, holding the crumpled note Yukwon thought he had thrown away.

“Did you mean to throw this away?” Taeil asks, like he doesn’t really care either way, and maybe he doesn’t.

Yukwon thinks for two seconds before he hears himself say, “Burn it.”

The light from the flame consuming the paper is bright, but not brighter than the sun, and it’s gone in an instant, leaving only charred ashes behind. Taeil keeps his lighter back into his pocket, and Yukwon says without looking back, “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end. I hope the epilogue explained what happened last chapter :) If not, you can leave your questions below ^^
> 
> Some behind-the-fic notes:  
> \- The chapter title hints when combined reads "The past never truly gets left behind: her end." and is referring to Minhyuk's wife's death. That's the missing info for the plot twist.  
> \- For the fic title "For you I'll do anything", it's actually referring to Minhyuk's attitude towards his daughter, although it might have seemed like it's for Yukwon's towards Minhyuk at the start. Yukwon's actions in the prologue should have clued you in to this, actually, although maybe the ubomb tag on this fic might have thrown it off...lol
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I'll love to know what you think about the fic now that it's completed :)


End file.
